A-Mark/JM Bullion acquires BGASC

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On August 30, A-Mark announced that their JM Bullion subsidiary had entered into an agreement to buy online bullion dealer BGASC for $4.5 million in cash.

BGASC was founded in 2012 in California and has reported more than 70,000 customers and $200 million in annual revenue. BGASC is an abbreviation for Buy Silver and Gold Coins.

Over the last few years, A-Mark has been leading an effort to consolidate and control many aspects of the bullion industry.

The Silver Heist channel on YouTube recently posted a video discussing the potential for long term impacts to consumers resulting from A-Mark’s ongoing acquisition-streak in the retail bullion industry that began with JM Bullion in 2021.

“Big Bullion Dealer Buys Other Dealer”, Silver Heist on YouTube!

As pointed out in the video, A-Mark has been acquiring stakes in many companies across all segments of the precious metals industry. The acquisitions have included refineries, smelters, wholesalers, distributors and retailers.

A-Mark now has control of an entire vertical segment from raw material to finished investment and industrial products. They have a stake in companies throughout all facets of the supply chain. Starting with the refineries, which is close to the point of extraction from mines.

At the refiner level of the supply chain the company has access to raw material from miners, recyclers and others through the ownership of Sunshine Minting and Silvertowne Mint.

Sunshine Minting was established in 1979 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. In 2007, the company was acquired by Tom and Patricia Power.

In 2020, A-Mark acquired a 31.1% stake in Sunshine Minting, which included a joint-venture in Shanghai, China.

Sunshine Minting plays an important role in the minting and distribution of American Silver Eagle coins.

The US Mint sources blank silver planchets from private mints and Sunshine Minting is a primary supplier of the raw blanks that are pressed into Silver Eagle coins.

A-Mark is also one of the “Authorized Purchasers” of wholesale products that are produced by the US Mint.

As an approved wholesalers, A-Mark is able to purchase products from the mint at a fixed markup.

According to business guidelines published by the US Mint in the spring of 2022, the current wholesale premium from the US Mint for American Silver Eagle coins is $2.35 per coin.

A-Mark and American Silver Eagle Retail Distribution

As of this morning, the lowest current online retail premiums from A-Mark affiliated bullion dealers is $14.41 per coin from BGASC, earning A-Mark affiliated investments a gross premium of $12.06 per coin over the combined spot price and $2.35 manufacturing cost of the US Mint.

Other A-Mark affiliated online retailers that are listed on FindBullionPrices.com offer this exact same product at even higher price points and premiums.

In a way, A-Mark is able to strategic leverage their position in the industry to outsource the manufacturing of Silver Eagles to the US Mint at a fixed cost that they then sell at various price points through retail channels that they have influence over through investments or full ownership control.

February 10, 2021

JM Bullion Acquired by A-Mark Precious Metals

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Precious Metals conglomerate A-Mark has announced that they will purchase online retailer JM Bullion. The acquisition follows a long time partnership between the two companies that dates back to A-Mark’s initial investment in JM Bullion in 2014.

In 2014 A-Mark acquired a non-controlling 20.5% stake in JM Bullion. The new deal will put the remaining 79.5% of the company under the A-Mark umbrella. The purchase price for the remaining 79.5% of JM Bullion is valued at $138.5 million dollars and includes $103.7 million in cash, plus $34.6 million in A-Mark stock.

JM Bullion co-founder and CEO Michael Whittmeyer will remain as CEO of JM Bullion. He will also join the A-Mark board of directors and assume the title of Execute VP of A-Mark’s Direct Sales line of business.

In addition to JM Bullion, A-Mark also owns several other direct to consumer precious metals businesses such as Goldline Inc and Silvertowne Mint.

The full press release can be found here.

November 3, 2020

JM Bullion Notifies Customers of Hack

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The website for online Precious Metals retailer JM Bullion was hacked earlier this year.

The company began notifying customers recently that malicious code had been discovered on their website. As part of the hack contact information and payment information may have been compromised.

JM Bullion became aware of suspicious activity involving their website around July 6, 2020. As part of the investigation it was determined that malicious code had been installed on their website. The malicious code had been in place for a six month period from February 18, 2020 until July 17, 2020.

During an investigation it was discovered that customers making purchases on their website may have had their data compromised. The data includes personal information, including credit card or banking information captured by a third-party.

The malicious code was removed from their website on July 17, 2020.

jm-bullion letter to customers of website hack and data leak — JM Bullion letter to customers of website hack and data leak

The stolen personal identifying information (PII) included customer name, address, and payment card information including account numbers, expiration dates and CVV security codes.

JM Bullion notified potentially effected customers via ‘Notice of Data Security Incident’ letter. What’s not clear from the letter is if the incident involved their website being hacked by a third party.

The data breach spanned six months. Customers that made purchases during this time frame were notified by the company.

The data breach was first reported in the r/Silverbugs group on Reddit by a customer that received the letter.

The hack occurred during a time when investor interest in precious metals reached a peak due to the economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

All customers who made purchases on JM Bullion’s site between February 18th, 2020 to July 17th, 2020 should monitor their credit card statements for fraudulent activity.

JM Bullion is one of the largest online precious metals retailers. They sell gold, silver, platinum, palladium and other bullion and coin investment products.

JM Bullion also owns and operates Provident Metals and Silver.com. It’s not clear from the letter whether this hack only impacted customer of jmbullion.com. Or if it also involved their other companies including providentmetals.com and silver.com were also impacted.